Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Says who?

I was reading an intriguing report about a possible shake up in the DC consulting order in The Hill when I was taken up short by this...

Reid, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and other Democratic leaders recently met with Paul Harstad, the pollster who worked on the campaigns of Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), the lone bright spots of the 2004 election for Senate Democrats.

Obama and Salazar were the "lone bright spots"? There are a few folks in my neighborhood who might beg to differ. The re-election of Patty Murray and the corresponding political retirement of George Nethercutt is considered a 'bright spot' hereabouts. Senate victories in red state outposts like Arkansas and North Dakota seem to offer some illumination. In fact, Democrats won 15 of the 34 US Senate elections last year, and each and every one of those 15 is a bright spot in its own way. Doesn't the re-election of Barbara Boxer brighten your day just a bit, for instance?

It's true enough that we're not where we want to be, not where the country desperately needs us to be, but we shouldn't let our resolve to work harder and win more take away from the celebration of the victories we have accomplished. The mainstream story line would have us believe we're a party in decline. We know better, and we need to say so louder.